Egypt revoked the citizenship of an Egyptian Jew who immigrated to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Dina Ovadia, who immigrated to Israel from Alexandria in 2005 and has already been released from her IDF service, joined a foreign military without requesting permission from the Egyptian Defense Minister and must therefore give up her Egyptian citizenship, the statement says.
Egyptian law also requires its citizens who are seeking dual citizenship of any foreign country to receive previous permission from the Egyptian Interior Ministry.
Ovadia, who is currently 24 years old, grew up in Egypt without knowing of her Jewish heritage until a group of Salafists showed up on her family’s doorstep and ordered them to leave the country within the month because of an uncle that had fled to Israel and joined the IDF.
The family eventually settled in Jerusalem and after finishing high school, Ovadia began her military service as an assistant Army Radio reporter on Arab affairs.
She then moved to the military police for a short period, and finally joined the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
She is currently an Israeli citizen.
Army Radio posted a video clip of a broadcast on Egypt’s El Balad TV, in which veteran Al Ahram journalist Ahmed Moussa reported the story live and harshly attacked both Ovadia and Israel.
“Today she is part of the Zionist entity, a racist entity that kills our Palestinian nation; an entity that still occupies and steals lands,” Moussa said.
Ovadia, declined to be interviewed by Army Radio regarding the matter and requested not to comment on the decision of the Egyptian Prime Minister.